With 5 percent annual MBBS fee hike, Medical Education in Punjab getting costlier every year

Faridkot: Medical education in Punjab is getting costlier every year as an yearly 5% hike in the MBBS (Bachelor of Medicine and Bachelor of Surgery) course fee is being applied to both the government and private medical colleges in the State.

In the recently announced revised fee structure by the Department of Medical Education and Research, the additional secretary Rahul Gupta has once again notified about a 5% hike in the MBBS course fees for the 2022 session onwards.

As a result of the continuous hike, the fees for MBBS courses in the government medical colleges at Amritsar, Patiala, and Faridkot has now been increased to Rs 8.62 lakh for the full course. Back in 2020, this fee was Rs 7.82 lakh. Therefore, facing a burden of Rs 81,000 hike, it has now become more difficult for the poor students in Punjab to pursue their dreams of becoming doctor.

The fresh notification shows that the MBBS full course fee in the management quota seats of private medical colleges is now Rs 52.60 lakh instead of Rs 47.70  lakh in 2020. In case of the government quota seats, the MBBS fee has been increased from Rs 18.55 lakh in 2020 to Rs 20.45 lakh.

In case of Sri Guru Ram Das University of Health Sciences, Amritsar, the fees for both the open merit (50%) and minority quota (50%) students, the fee was Rs 47.70 lakh in 2020. However, the institute has now increased it to Rs 52.60 lakh by annually increasing it at the rate of 5%.

However, the fees for Adesh Medical University, Bathinda is subject to a writ petition pending before the Punjab and Haryana high court. In case of Christian Medical College, Ludhiana, the fee structure remains unchanged at Rs 6.60 lakh every year with a 10% increase every year, adds Hindustan Times.

Also Read: Huge Disparity in MBBS Fees announced for BFUHS and AIMSR

As per the latest media report by Hindustan Times, the rule of annual 5% hike in the MBBS course fees was implemented when the Congress government was in power back in 2020. Back then, the State had increased the MBBS course fee in the government medical colleges by 78%. While previously the students had to pay Rs 4.4 lakh, it was hiked to Rs 7.81 lakh for the academic session of 2019-2020. Implementing the 5% annual hike for five years for subsequent batches in all government and private health sciences educational institutes, the State had back then decided to review the fees after five years.

Similarly, the State DMER had announced back in 2020 about introducing a uniform fee structure and reduce the fee in some private medical colleges by a significant margin. Despite such an order, the fees for the management quota and government quota seats in Dayanand Medical College (DMC) and Punjab Institute of Medical Sciences at Jalandhar had witnessed a hike of Rs 4.90 lakh and Rs 1.90 lakh respectively.

While commenting on the issue, former vice-chancellor of Baba Farid University of Health Sciences (BFUHS) Dr SS Gill pointed out that the increased fees will affect the quality of doctors as the deserving candidates from moderate background would not be able to afford it.

In fact, costly medical education in the private medical colleges in India is the reason why the medical aspirants choose to migrate to countries abroad to avail MBBS courses at a cheaper cost. Those who choose to stay in India, prefer to work in the private facilities or go abroad. Therefore, the medical education getting costlier directly results in the inequality between the urban and the rural areas.

"The government must lay out a plan for this otherwise meritorious students from financially disadvantaged families would be discouraged and the rich will get admissions," said Dr SS Gill.

Also Read: NMC Fee Order for 50 percent Private Medical College Seats not Applicable in Kerala: High Court

In order to address the issue of high fees in the private medical colleges, the National Medical Commission earlier directed all those institutes to charge fees at par with government medical colleges in the 50% of the total seats. While such a step sounds promising to the medical aspirants, the decision has faced huge criticism from the private institutes who have claimed that such a rule will result in shifting the burden of expenses on one group of students getting admission in the other 50% of seats.

Recently, Kerala High Court clarified that the NMC fee order will not be applicable in Kerala and a similar matter is pending before the Madras High Court as well.

Also Read: Karnataka Private Medical Colleges demand 30 to 35 percent fee hike for MBBS, BDS courses